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Friday, 28 September 2012

I'm Distressed ....

No, don't panic, I'm not really distressed! It's just that I went on a one day workshop with daughter number two last Saturday, where we were taught how to distress furniture! Shabby Chic it's called, and I just love the effect.

I'm sure some of my American bloggy friends will be excellent at this, because they certainly seem to be into crafts in some form or another in quite a big way! However, my daughter and I were complete novices.

We could only take a small item of furniture each, as anything bigger wouldn't have fitted into the car. I found this old stool in the garage - very dark wood and absolutely splattered with paint marks. Just the job I thought. Unfortunately, I cannot let you see a 'before' photo, because my camera started to play up, and I ended up taking the other photos with the camera on my phone.

This is the stool after being well rubbed down and the first coat of paint applied

My daughter and I both really enjoyed the day, and I can imagine that this 'distressing' lark could become quite addictive. I am now looking at all the pieces of furniture that we have in the house, to see where I can start! I did take along a lovely Duck Egg Blue paint, but, apparently, it was the wrong sort. DOH! I shall certainly be looking to use some lovely pastel colours in the future.

This photo is after it had been given a couple of coats of top coat, then distressed, and then waxed to give it a nice sheen. I must say that I was very pleased with my first attempt!

All I can say is that hubby had better not stand still too long, otherwise I shall be distressing him!

My facebook followers will know that a couple of weeks ago, our local Friends' Group of Children's Hospice South West (there are six of us in the group) held another fund-raising evening. This timed in the local Church. It was an evening of song, and everyone had donated their services for nothing. As we didn't have to pay for the Church, it meant that every single penny went direct to the Hospice. We were thrilled to raise £665 on the night, and then we were given a further donation of £50, and the Church gave us half of the monies raised during their Flower Festival, which was taking place at the same time. This amounted to £300, so imagine how thrilled we were that the total came to just over £1,000.

As I type this, unbelievably, September is coming to an end, and it will soon be time for my holiday in Gran Canaria with my lovely granddaughter, Eleanor.Oh, we have a new kid on the block - fishducky. I remember how everyone made me very welcome when I first joined bloggyland almost two years ago now, and I would recommend that you go and pay fishducky a visit - just click on her name and (hopefully!) it will take you right to her blog. Although her blog is quite new, she has been commenting on blogs for some time, and I was always taken with her very funny comments on Carol's blog (facing50withhumour). So!, if you want a smile, pop on over there.I know that I am now making this post a little longer than usual (and I do usually try to keep them fairly short) but I just wanted to say a huge "thank you" to all of you that come over to leave comments for me, especially the ones that comment on every single post - and you know who you are my friends! Because of time, I don't now respond to individual comments as I always did at the beginning, but I just wanted to let you know how much each and every comment is appreciated by me;

Take care everyone. I won't be posting my usual Sunday Snaps feature this weekend, but I will see you again on Monday.

16 comments:

Good Morning Diane, you did an excellent job with that chair. Sounds like you have found a new hobby ;) Great job on the fund raising :) Thank God it's Friday - trying to get myself ready to go to work. It has just been a tiring week - so am really looking forward to the weekend.

Hallo, dear Thisisme! Yessum, I became a little "distressed" when I first saw the title of your post. Your previous post title concerning our friend Sush also had me rattled. What's the name of your next post, "HELP! HELP! HELP!"? (LOL) Anyway, I was relieved to learn that nothing is amiss in your world and that the title refers to this fascinating craft. I love a distressed finish on furniture and I agree that the process of creating it can be both fun and addictive. I recall my parents distressing several pieces of furniture in our home in the 1950s and 60s. Congratulations on your successful fundraiser. The money raised goes to a very worthy cause indeed. I hope you and Eleanor are both giddy with excitement over your upcoming holiday. While there I'm sure you'll take many lovely pictures to post on your blog. I treasure your friendship, dear Thisisme. Have a wonderful day and weekend!

Oh no, now you will be painting every thing you can find. Your transformation was brilliant. I am not a big painting blogger but I understand the concept. I have painted and distressed the round coffee table you see in our living room. Have a splendid weekend, Olive

Your title grabbed me quick. Happy to see your lovely stool. Distressed and looking lovely.( you can still link this post to my Thursday hop if you are interested). Congrats on your fundraiser my friend xo

Love the distressed look. I bought a new kitchen set that had 'distressed' chairs a few years ago. It was from Ethan Allen, so it was rather pricey. My husband was looking it over when the set was delivered and said, "Sally, come look at these chairs. You are going to be so upset. See how they were damaged in shipping." Me: "I bought them that way, dear." Needless to say, he was blown away and couldn't believe I would do such a thing. I still laugh about that. I love them. He still thinks it is weird.

Congratulations on your fundraiser Thisisme! Such a worthy cause...we need more people like you to keep the good deeds going. I love your stool...yes, Americans are really into the crafts. We've done some restoring of old furniture. Karo is really good at it. And, Shabby Chic is really in. I do some arts and crafts on a smaller scale, but, when you run out of room for all of the items, you have to downsize some. Hope you're having a great weekend. Love the photo of Ruby and Eli-the sweetest, they're all keepers, but this one is soooo good. Hugs to you my friend!♥

I need a stool exactly like that for outside my front door. I find that I don't have enough hands to hold everything [purse, water, packages, mail] to lock or unlock the door. And I am unable to bend over twice to put it down/pick it up. I must look quite comical trying to balance all my junk just to get into the house.

Now you have inspired me to go out and find a lovely lil' stool just like that and distress it for the front porch. I mean, the weather will do it eventually I suppose, but why not help it along.

Hugs to you my friend. I bet you must be beside yourself with happiness to finally get that vacation with E. I know how sad you were to have to postpone back in the summer. See? It all works out for the best - you're well and she is still going too. YIPPPEEEE!

Dearest Diane,Wonderful new hobby, maybe(^_^)v And also a great fund raising.I am really clumsy with hand job and admre these who can do or have interest in. I hope you are having wonderful weekend.Sending you lots of love and hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*